President Jerry Weber called the Wagner Rotary Club to order on Wednesday, June 19th. Jerry is almost ready to retire from the President position. He celebrated by ringing the bell softly. Pastor Bill Herrmann was asked to give the blessing and he gave thanks for the day, the fellowship we enjoy at our meetings and asked God to do good things through all Rotarians for the good of our Wagner Community.

Rotarian Laurie Kidd led the club in a rousing rendition of “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad”. One guest was present for the day, William Woods, son of Rotarian Rachel Woods.

Secretary/Treasurer Patty Frei reported that there was one absence on the Henke Team for the day and 6 for the Frei Team which brings the totals to 13 misses for the Henke Team and 25 misses for the Frei Team.

Pastor Bill had a chance at pulling the Queen of Hearts from the card deck but wound up with the Ace of Diamonds. The winnings have increased to $695.00

President Jerry had the program for the day, but his designated program did not make it to the meeting; so, at the last minute he went to Ag Facts on the internet and took a quiz. To his surprise he had a 53% correct score. One of the most startling facts he encountered was that a farmer only receives 15 cents on every dollar spent in agricultural products. This statistic has been steadily going down with each passing year. Almost all areas of farming are being monopolized by big corporations: chickens, hogs, dairy, etc.

Jerry turned to the members for a question and answer segment. The most popular questions were about the wet winter and spring that farmers have experienced. Deadlines for planting corn and soybeans have passed and there are lots of empty fields. Jerry explained some of the details involved in Prevent Plant which is a government program to create a safety net when farmers are not able to plant a crop. Farmers will no doubt be turning to planting cover crops in order to have some feed for livestock since there will be a big shortage of corn stalks.

Jerry was thanked for his program as many have questions about how farmers are going to cope with the current situation.

The club adjourned in its usual fashion singing “America”.

Rachel Woods filled in for Sergeant at Arms Craig Krsnak and came prepared with quite a list of fines:

• Jordan Weber $2 for his picture appearing in both the Post and Announcer this past week.

• Scott McAdaragh $1 for serving a good meal of steak to the National Guard Soldiers before they left on their Summer Camp duties.

• Pastor Bill was fined $1 simply because Rachel couldn’t find anything to fine him for.

• Linda Soukup was fined $1 for having a beautiful trip, $1 for getting stuck in the Sioux Falls airport and $1 for a sign that her son saw in Linda’s garage recently.

• Jeff Doom, $1 for taking his Dad’s place at the table.

• Joe Stedronsky, $1 for being a good citizen and serving on the recent school board election.

• Becky Brunsing $1 for her husband going off the school board.

• Laurie Kidd, $2 for her remodeling project nearing completion.

• Roger Wiltz, $1 for his shirt advertisement, and Roger offered up a $1 Happy Fine for not being called to give the program for Jerry Weber as per usual.

• Laurie Kidd offered up a $2 Happy Fine for having an incorrect spelling in last week’s minutes.

• Jamie Soukup gave a Happy Fine of $1 for the farmers finally being able to get in the field.

• Bryan Slaba $5 Happy Fine for the visits made by the WCMH staff to visit farmers in the field for a wellness check.

• Linda Soukup $5 Happy Fine for being back in the USA.